Analysis: Setting

Where It All Goes Down

While the poem doesn't ever reference New York explicitly, we're pretty sure it takes place on the streets of Manhattan. O'Hara was a mostly autobiographical poet, and he wrote a lot about his daily life in New York. This poem comes from his collection called Lunch Poems, many of which he wrote during his lunch break from his job at the Museum of Modern Art. O'Hara wrote "Poem [Lana Turner has collapsed!]" while on the Staten Island Ferry, and we feel pretty comfortable assuming that it takes place in his beloved city too. (For more on the writing of the poem, check out what we have to say in our "In a Nutshell" section.)